Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Elise!  She was a cute little Strawberry Fairy.  I got this costume last year when she was so tiny I never thought she'd fit.  She does!  It was like $9.99 on Gymboree clearance and I couldn't resist.  And Auntie Lauren made her a little candy bucket to match!  Thanks Auntie L!

Elise and her candy.  We really only went to one house and the rest was from Grandma (and stolen by Daddy & Mommy). 

We went to Grandpa & Grandma Goote's for dinner & trick or treating.

"Oh hey Mr. Skeleton!"

Happy Halloween!

It's Pumpkin Time

To get you in the Halloween spirit - this was our view this morning.  A little creepy, eh?  (Oh yeah, this was at 7am when Elise decided it was time to wake up.  I would have preferred to sleep through this.)

We had lunch with Grandpa & Grandma Goote and then they came over to help us carve pumpkins.   Elise mostly watched and would barely touch the pumpkin or anything that came out of it.

She like to take the tops on and off though.

Not so tasty I don't think...

"Yay my own pumpkin!"

Check it out!  Pretty cute I think.  And thanks to Great Grandpa & Grandma for the giant one!  These will look SO cute all lit up!

4 down, 8 to go.

Today was my fourth chemo treatment.  My mom went with me.  My sweet mother-in-law took the day off so she could take Elise.   They were very excited to spend the day together.   They got donuts, went to the school where she teaches to play (and show off a little...ha), went to Great Grandma's for dinner...I'm pretty sure Elise had the best day ever.  Thanks so much Gootes!

Chemo was pretty routine.  Blood work, meet with the doctor, and treatment.  My blood work wasn't looking too good so I have to go back tomorrow at 3 for a shot that will boost my white blood cell count.  There's a type of white blood cell called a lymphocyte which basically makes antibodies that kill bad things in your body.  A normal healthy person's would probably read around 1.5, mine is currently .44, and likely to drop even more around day 5 after chemo, which puts me in the "high risk" category for infection.  So - the shot it is.  I've heard it's not too bad, but I've also heard it's really bad.  I seem to tolerate chemo pretty well so far (knock on wood) so hopefully it's not a huge deal.  My next PET scan is scheduled for next Tuesday.   Is it sad to say I'm really excited for this?  I can't wait to see the progress.   I know the tumor has gone down just by feel, but it will be really cool to see exactly how much.

In other news...we bought a house!!!  It's in Hudsonville and we love it.  The final accepted offer is in their hands and under contract.  We probably won't actually get possession of it until early December, but it is SO exciting.  And oh.so.cute. And will get cuter after I do some very PINteresting things to it.  Yeah I'm addicted.

We had some beautiful weather again yesterday and took full advantage of it.  Elise LOVES to do her ball popper on the driveway.   And chase Pacey around a little.  And just run really fast.

Fall Fun!

Today we went to this amazing little farm.  There was a band, a giant pumpkin shooter, a corn maze, a petting zoo with baby goats, train rides, pumpkins, donuts, and cider.  And it was the perfect fall day.  Doesn't get better than that, people.  Auntie Lauren made this cute little shirt and hoodie for Elise...it is SO cute!

Elise wasn't too sure of all the animals....

Despite what it looks like she actually loved the donuts.

I think we finally have a connection between "what does a cow say?" and and actual cow.  She was moo-ing.

She loves anything she can climb up and sit on.  Every single item of clothing any of us were wearing is in the wash.  We got dirty. 

We got Elise her very own pumpkin!

It was a little sunny.

Happy Fall from the Goote's!

Thank you Grandma!

And...it's been another week since my last update.  Sorry folks... nothing really interesting happening around here.  

This morning I had my MOPS group at church which I love, and happens to fall on the opposite Tuesdays as chemo.   So happy for that.   Last year my mom volunteered in the nursery, but since we don't want Elise to get all germy in there these days she just stays home with her so I can go.   So nice of her.  Today she took her to Bed Bath & Beyond, and came home with this:

The tunnel only fits small children.  Grandma checked.  

My mom said it was because she is so good and it was only $20.  Pretty good deal if you ask me. 

"Oh hi!"

She is of course sporting her Calvin College sweatshirt that is so cozy for nap time.  We had the tent all set up when she woke up.  I love this kid.   Her hair has been doing this awesome top curl thing lately too.   Cracks me up.

She also loves to push her shopping cart around these days.  She thinks she is very fancy. 

I probably should give a little cancer update, but there isn't much to say.  My last chemo treatment has been extremely kind to me.  I had almost zero side effects and have been feeling great.  It's really strange when you feel totally normal and yet it's...not quite normal being that you have cancer and stuff...ha.   Hopefully all my treatments are this good, but they say it gets worse as you go because you get more and more of the chemotherapy in your body.  Who knows.  We'll deal with it as it comes I guess.  My hair is super thin but there's still some there!  I can pull off a hat pretty well, but we did get a really cute wig (yes cute) that we have just in case we need it. 

I promise to take more pictures and update more (Lauren).  :-)

Playing in the Leaves

Today we played outside for a long time.  It was SO nice out and Elise loves it.  She just runs and runs.  The colors are so beautiful these days, and she loves to run in the leaves.  And ride on Auntie Lauren's shoulders.  This doesn't work so well on Mommy anymore - Elise tends to hold on to your hair, and I can't afford to lose any more!

I love leaves!!!

We made a giant pile for her to play in.  She wasn't too sure at first.

But then she liked it!

She was loving it, actually.

And then it was so cute I took way too many pictures.  Enjoy.

And a little video.  I love me some fall in Michigan.  Especially when it's 75.

Chemo #3

Three down, nine to go.  25% done as Auntie Gracie says. 

Today Lauren went with me to treatment.   It's actually really boring, and we kind of just sit there on our ipads and fart around for 4.5 hours.  There's a saline drip, two bags of anti-nausea meds, and then the nurse has to come and manually push three different chemo drugs through my IV with goes into my chest.  One of them is bright red.  Then I have the fourth chemo drug through a drip like the saline.  I did do a little online shopping.  I have been feeling SO good for the past week and a half, like a normal person!  I'm still feeling pretty good so it'll probably hit me tomorrow, but we'll see.  Hopefully not. 

I always get my  blood drawn first, and then we met with my doctor before treatment.  My blood counts are still looking good - all in the normal range still.  He says around day 7 after chemo we have to be on the lookout for fevers or any signs of sickness since my immune system will be super low, but so far everything is going really well.  I can barely feel the tumor that I found in my armpit, and my chest has gone down completely.  After only three treatments.  After the fourth I will have another PET scan to see what kind of progress we've made - probably the first week of November.

My hair did not all fall out!  It's really thin on the top, and I have to wear a hat in public or I look really weird, but I can just wear a hat and it looks pretty darn cute.  I'm really hoping I can pull this off with only a hat.  I have an appointment on Thursday to pick up my wig.  We ordered one that should be a really close match to my natural color, just in case we need it.  Hopefully I won't because it looks sorta funny, but I guess it'd be better than going to Target all baldy looking. 

The weather here has been unbelievable.  High seventies and eighties - in Michigan - in October!  This is completely unheard of  but we'll take it!  We had some friends out to the lake to play and have pizza last Saturday.  It was so beautiful outside! Here's Elise playing with two little fishy nets:

Her face is still not completely healed from her crash into the driveway last Monday.  She hit that hard and had scabs from between her eyes all the way down her nose.  Poor thing. 

She still thinks running into the lake is fun.  That water is pretty cold too!  She loves it.  I just let her get wet.  We usually have to take her in when her lips turn blue.

Elise loves to put all the bags from the bag toss game down the hole. 

She had to show Jacob how it was done.  Isn't he SO cute??  He's eight months older than Elise.  This was actually the first time they played together instead of just looking and doing their own thing.  They were cracking each other up at one point - it was so cute!

We're still here!

Sorry for the lack of updates.  Apparently I have people waiting on pins and needles to find out what we do on a daily basis.  Things have been pretty uneventventful.  Except for the event of the frog in the basement. 

My mom was cleaning some some stuff up in the storage room, and she saw this frog.  She thought it was fake.  It wasn't.  She called Lauren down to put a bucket over it because I would obviously never go near that thing.  Lauren put a bucket over it and we weighed it down until someone could come home and transport it outside.  This thing was HUGE.  It had to have come in through the sump pump or something (which has since been covered with duct tape).   When Nick came home we made him move it outside with a cookie sheet.  I was planning on taking lots of pictures but this is the only one I have because it JUMPED AT ME and I screamed and scared poor Elise to death.   It looks small in the picture but I bet it weighed 3 pounds.  Okay almost.

Elise LOVES her animal train.  This her is animal train face.  It's fascinating.

We also have a "yay no more cancer!" Disney Cruise planned for this summer.  We didn't want her to be scared of the characters so we are prepping her with this Christmas Mickey.  She was scared at first but now she loves it.

She thinks she is fancy when she sits on her little bench.

We met Grandpa & Grandma & Great Grandpa & Grandma for dinner tonight for their 60th anniversary.   Elise was very excited and entertained everyone the whole time.  She likes to show off a little.  And she had on red glitter shoes.